It shouldn't have taken Yuuta more than twenty minutes to finish his homework, but he was distracted (to say the least), so it was almost two hours before he decided he'd done as much as he was going to do. He put away his books, trying to resist the urge to smash them against his desk in frustration, and finally allowed himself to turn around.

Syuusuke had rolled onto his side, facing away from him. He was lying still as though sleepy, but when Yuuta said "Aniki" quietly, he sat up and looked at him. "Do you think we should call home so no one wonders where you are?" Yuuta asked.

"Nobody's home," Syuusuke said, shaking his head. "Mom and Dad left for the weekend, and nee-san is staying at a friend's tonight."

"Oh." Suddenly it made more sense that Syuusuke was here of all places; it was only because there was nobody at home and he didn't want to be there alone. Still, it didn't explain why he hadn't gone to one of his friends instead. Yuuta didn't know if Syuusuke confided in his friends either, but it seemed like he would usually go to them before burdening the little brother he was always trying to protect with his troubles. He wasn't fond of his brother's protective streak, but Syuusuke's current behavior ran counter to that, and it confused him. It only made sense if...but surely none of his friends could have hurt him.

"Do you want to stay here tonight?" Yuuta found himself asking before he was aware of having the idea. "It's getting late."

"I don't want to be a bother," Syuusuke hedged, looking uncomfortable. This was awkward for them both, and it bothered Yuuta that things were this way between them. His brother drove him crazy sometimes, but it was terrible that their relationship had changed so much that they couldn't even ask each other for help anymore.

"It's not a bother," Yuuta insisted. It was a bother, truly, but he wasn't going to say that. He owed it to his brother, who had never asked for anything from him but his friendship, to help him when he really needed it.

"I'll be back," he added after a moment's thought. It wasn't that he desperately wanted to get away from his brother, just that he desperately wanted to get out of the room and escape the horrible, uncomfortable feeling of suddenly not being the sheltered little brother anymore. And besides, he did have something he needed to take care of. He made his way to the common area, where he found his roommate talking to a group of friends.

"Akaya," he said, and the boy broke off his conversation and gave him a questioning look. "Do you think you could find somewhere else to sleep tonight?" he asked.

Akaya looked surprised; Yuuta had never made this kind of request before. "Why?" he teased. "Do you have a visitor?" He and the other boys laughed, imagining just what kind of visitor they'd like to have. If Yuuta had been in a less serious mood, he would have rolled his eyes; it wasn't impossible to sneak girls into the dorm, but it was difficult, and it wasn't the sort of thing he would ever consider doing.

"Yes, my brother," he snapped, a little more harshly than he had intended. His outburst made it clear that this was no laughing matter.

"I'll figure something out," Akaya said, suddenly serious.

"Thank you," Yuuta said. With no further excuse to be there, he went back to his room.

Syuusuke had his cell phone out, but he put it down when Yuuta came back. "You can stay," Yuuta told him, and he nodded in awkward thanks. Yuuta yawned, more because he didn't know what to say than anything else, but he found he was suddenly tired.

"You can go to sleep if you want," Syuusuke said, smiling, back in big brother mode. "I can entertain myself."

"Okay," Yuuta agreed, rubbing his eyes. He went to brush his teeth, and when he came back Syuusuke had settled down on his bed with one of his schoolbooks. He changed into his pyjamas silently, and threw an extra t-shirt and shorts at his brother, who caught them without looking up. (Yuuta restrained the reflexive annoyance at his ability to do things like that effortlessly.) He climbed into Akaya's bed, which was so similar to his own that it hardly felt strange, and when he closed his eyes, he could forget that anything was different tonight from the many other nights he'd spent in this room.

"Good night," Syuusuke said, bringing him back to reality.

"Good night," Yuuta replied. He thought he should say something else, but he couldn't even begin to find the words, so he just rolled over and fell asleep.

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Yuuta woke with a start in the middle of the night for no reason he could see. He fumbled for his alarm clock, on the bedside table, but the clock, and for that matter the table, wasn't there. After a moment, he remembered that he was in Akaya's bed, so of course his clock wouldn't be there. With a sigh, he reached up and flicked on the reading light next to the bed.

Squinting against the light, he looked at Syuusuke in the other bed. His arms were draped awkwardly over his face, crossed as if to block something from hitting him. Yuuta realized suddenly that he was mumbling in his sleep. The words were unintelligible, and his voice was too quiet to have woken Yuuta up, but now that he had noticed the steady stream of sound, he couldn't ignore it.

As he lay awake, Yuuta's mind drifted back to the days when he and his brother had shared a room. They had slept next to each other for years, so this was familiar, but the thought that kept coming to the fore was that he had never known Syuusuke to have a nightmare before.